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THE SWORD PRESENTED BY LOUIS XVI 

To JOHN PAUL JONES 

A History 
By CHARLES HENRY HART 




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Reprinted from the Proceedings of the United 

States Naval Institute, Vol. XXXIII, 

No. 2, Whole No. 122. 





DRESS SWORD PRESENTED BY LOUIS XVI TO JOHN PAUL JONES. 



THE SWORD 

PRESENTED BY LOUIS XVI 

TO 

JOHN PAUL JONES 



A History 

By 

Charles Henry Hart 



Read before the 

Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia 

April 18. 1907 



With a description of the Sword 

By 

Cornelius Stevenson, Esq. 



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DESCRIPTION OF JOHN PAUL JONES' SWORD. 

By Cornelius Stevenson, Esq. 

(Note. — To the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, 
we acknowledge our indebtedness for the use of the plate of the Paul Jones 
sword; to Mr. Richard Dale for his permission to publish it and to Mr. 
Cornelius Stevenson for the right to reprint from the Proceedings of the 
Society his description of the sword.) 

This historical rehc is a fine specimen of designing, chasing, 
and the swordsmith's craft, and the correct proportions and care- 
ful considerations to every detail which it displays are particularly 
worthy of attention. 

The hilt is of gold chased over with figures and floral decora- 
tions. The blade is four-sided, tapers to a point, and is 33^ 
inches in length. It is blued for 11 inches from the hilt, and on 
one side of the recasso is inscribed the words in gold: 

VINDICATOR maris 

ludovicus xvi 

remunerator 

strenuo victor. 

'■ Louis XVI, rewarder of the valiant, asserter of the freedom 
of the sea." 

On the other side is lightly engraved a motto, which has be- 
come obliterated by time. Below the recasso, inlaid in gold, is 
the sun and three fleur de lis surmounted by a crown, and the 
motto, " Vive le Roy." 

One side of the grip is adorned with a medallion of Mars, and 
on the reverse another of Hercules with a club, and festoons and 
ribbons held in the mouth of a mythological animal. Below is a 
standard of flags. 

The pommel is made up of two designs : One, three fleur de lis; 
the other, a figure of Neptune with his trident. 

The upper surface of the guard plate is ornamented on both 
sides ; on one side a medallion of Minerva, on the other that of 
Mars, and on the lower surface a similar medallion of Minerva 
and £eur de lis. 

The pas d'ane and guard are beautifully chased with floral 
designs and terminate in dolphins' heads. 



THE SWORD PRESENTED BY LOUIS XVI TO JOHN 

PAUL JONES/ 
A TRUE HISTORY. 
By Charles Henry Hart. 



Toward the dose of 1779, the whole civiHzed world was 
startled by, what was then and has since remained, the most 
marvellous naval battle on record, the fight between the Bon- 
honune-Richard and the Serapis, when the infant navy of the 
United States won the circlet she has never ceased to wear. The 
following- spring the victor, John Paul Jones, visited Paris, where 
he was acclaimed the hero and honors were showered upon him, 
the greatest of which were, as he has himself recorded.'' 

" Honours — by Louis XVI 
The Order of Military Merit and a gold Sword. June 28, 1780." 

This sword presented by the King of France to Paul Jones, 
was exhibited at the meeting of this society, held on the 6th of 
April, 1905, and in the published proceedings of the society 
for the years 1904, 1905, and 1906, just issued, there appears at 
page 41, an illustration of the sword, accompanied by a note, 
which repeats the glaring errors, regarding the inheritance of the 
sword, that have been repeated so often, as at last to have be- 
come, in the minds of many, the true history. The note says : 

" By request, Mr. Richard Dale exhibited the sword presented 

by Louis XVI to John Paul Jones which at his death 

passed by zvill, to his chief officer, Richard Dale, in whose family 
it has since remained." 

^Read before the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, 
April 18, 1907. 

" Sands' Life and Correspondence of John Paul Jones. New York, 
1830, p. 548. 



Sword Presented by Louis XVI to John Paul Jones. 713 

Then follows an interesting expert description of the handle 
and blade, concluding with A. C. Buell's adroit invention, to get 
around Jones's will, when he found that instrument did not con- 
tain a bequest of the sword to Dale, viz : 

" Paul Jones while making his will, orally bequeathed this 
sword to Richard Dale, through the hands of Gouverneur Morris, 
who delivered it to Dale at the first opportunity. Jones's words 
of bequest were, ' I give this sword to Richard Dale, my good 
old Dick — because he did more than any other to help me 
win it' " ' 

This entire story, like almost everything in Buell's " History," 
is a pure fabrication, cut out of the whole cloth, and a more impu- 
dent literary forgery was never committed than this one, which 
Buell emphasizes, by repeating three times in volume two, on 
pages 4, 319, and 332. 

The truth is Paul Jones died rather suddenly, in Paris, on the 
i8th of July, 1792, and his will was quickly drawn up by 
Gouverneur Morris and executed the same day. By it Jones 
named his trusted friend " the Honorable Robert Morris, Esq., of 
Philadelphia, my only testamentary executor " ; and to Morris, 
as executor under the will, the title to the sword would legally 
pass. Morris evidently did not settle up Jones's estate, excepting 
as to one item, which is the first in " Schedule of the Property of 
Admiral John Paul Jones, as stated by him to me this i8th day of 
July, 1792," and signed by Gouverneur Morris, to wit: "Bank 
stock in the Bank of North America, at Philadelphia, six 
thousand dollars with sundry dividends." * Letters testamentary 
were not taken out by Morris, for some reason, impossible to tell 
after this lapse of time, but on the 8th of December, 1794, letters 
of administration on the estate of Paul Jones, were granted to 
Morris, at Philadelphia, and a certified copy of the will in French, 
with a translation into English, was filed with it ; and in Robert 
Morris Ledger. C. fo. 139' in his account with the "Heirs of 
John Paul Jones," the first entry is " 1794. Dec. 13. Paid for 
translation of J. P. Jones Will and for taking out letters of Ad- 
ministration $8.00." 

' Paul Jones, Founder of the American Navy — A History. By Augustus 
C. Buell, New York, 1900, Vol. II, p. 4. 
■* Sherburne's Life of Jones. Washington, 1825, p. 351. 
° Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 



714 Sword Presented by Louis XVI to John Paul Jones. 

A few months after Paul Jones's death, his sister, Jane Taylor," 
repaired to Paris, from Scotland, and took possession of all of 
her brother's papers and personal effects, which she carried with 
her back to Dumfries ; and the now famous sword, that had been 
presented by His A^ost Christian Majesty, Louis XVI, King of 
France, to the Scottish-American sailor, " was sent by Jones's 
heirs to his valued friend, Robert Morris, to whose favor he had 
owed his opportunities for distinguishing himself." ' The sword 
was transmitted to Morris through the hands of Thomas Pinck- 
ney, the American Minister to Great Britain, to whom Morris 
wrote, March i8, 1795, in acknowledgment:* "I have in the 
first place to return you thanks for taking the trouble to forward 
the sword of the late Admiral Paul Jones, which came safe to 
hand and I have presented it to Commodore John Barry, the 
senior officer of the present American navy, who will never 
disgrace it." 

Although not mentioned in this letter to Pinckney, the gift was 
only for Barry's life, in trust to descend in succession to " the 
senior officer," as Morris designates Barry in the letter to Pinck- 
ney, of the United States Navy for all time," so that to-day the 
sword of Jones should be in the possession of Admiral George 
Dewey. 

But Barry disregarded this provision and bequeathed the sword, 
unconditionally, to " my good friend Capt. Richard Dale," '" who, 
two months before the date of Barry's will, had resigned his 
commission in the navy and therefore should never have received 
the sword of Jones which has remained in the Dale family ever 
since. 

From this it will be seen that Paul Jones did not bequeath the 
szvord to Dale, as the publication of this society says he did, fol- 
lowing the untrustworthy Buell, either by testament or orally, 

^ Sometimes called Janet or Jeannette. 

' Life of Paul Jones. By Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, U. S. N. Bos- 
ton, 1841. Vol. II, p. 63, n. (See also letter of Jeannette Taylor to J. Feni- 
more Cooper, supra p. 683. Ed.) 

* Private Letter Book of Robert Morris. Library of Congress, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

' Revolutionary Reminiscences connected with the Life of Robert Mor- 
ris, Esq. By Redwood Fisher. Graham's Magazine, January, 1854, Vol. 
XLIV, p. 17. 

'"Griffin's Life of John Barry. Phila., 1903, p. 412. 



Sword Presented by Louis XVI to John Paul Jones. 715 

any more than he presented it to Barry, as claimed by Barry's 
l)iographer." 

Dale received the sword from Barry, who had received it from 
Robert Morris, to whom it was sent by the heirs of Paul Jones. 

The detailed and exact story of the disposition of the sword 
presented by Louis XVI to John Paul Jones, as here given, has, 
as far as I can find, never before been told and it is too important 
to be lost, although the general facts have been known to many 
students of history. 

" Martin I. J. Griffin in American Catholic Historical Researches, for 
1905, pp. 216 and 383. 



47 



m '^"^ 



PROCEEDINGS 

OF THE 

U. S. NAVAL INSTITUTE 

Number 122. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





011 699 895 6 



